This report, sponsored by Iris Global Identity & Cyber Protection, powered by Generali, explores the impact identity fraud has on the customer experience, highlighting how and why customer education about fraud prevention and a well-defined identity fraud response plan are among the best ways to reduce attrition and keep consumers happy. Financial institutions (FIs) need to focus on empowering consumers to help identify and reduce fraud while also ensuring the FIs themselves are sufficiently helping consumers resolve fraud in a satisfactory way. This report is derived from the 2021 Identity Fraud Study: Shifting Angles, published by Javelin Strategy & Research in March 2021. Javelin Strategy & Research maintains complete independence in its data collection, findings, and analysis.

The COVID-19 pandemic set the perfect stage for criminals to take advantage of and exploit consumers’ vulnerabilities related to self-imposed and forced isolation. As a result, consumers were more vulnerable than ever to identity fraud, as constant streams of misinformation fooled many consumers into falling for scams and undermined their ability to adequately detect and report identity fraud. Scams linked to such things as COVID-19 vaccinations and essential-goods home delivery, as well as stimulus-check distribution and unemployment benefits, preyed on consumers’ emotional weaknesses. Those well-thought-out scams resulted in a significant uptick in fraud losses that will no doubt continue well into 2022 and beyond. In 2020, the need for more customer education about fraud prevention was highlighted. The rise in scams also demonstrated why having a well-defined identity fraud response plan is a necessary tool in strengthening customer loyalty and retention.